Palembang for nearly free

We landed about 10 minutes late into Singapore but it didn’t bother me as I had a scheduled 4h40 self-connect to Jetstar to Palembang (a flight that was nearly free apart from Singapore airport’s ever-increasing taxes).

As with my last trip, we were parked at the far end of T3 at Changi which required a train ride to T1 … so I thought. It was actually two train rides as the train didn’t run the length of T3 all the way to the border of T1. It ran from the far end of T3 to the core of T3 and required a walk to the other end of the core of T3 before taking another train to T1. Now I know.

Despite that, I was at the Dnata lounge about 40 minutes after landing. It was very empty and possibly slightly less choice of food compared to the other lounges here. But it was good for me to have a change and check it out.

I rehydrated with plenty of sparkling water, had a shower and didn’t eat till a little later. I manage to kill two hours in there before going to the gate for my Jetstar flight to Palembang.

We boarded early but waited for stragglers. Despite that, the relatively empty flight left early but landed a little late. While scheduled for 1h05, we were only airborne for only 45 minutes due to a long taxi.

With no luggage, I managed to exit Palembang airport quickly into the arms of taxi drivers offering rides to the city at IDR100K. I ignored them and went to the ATM before finding the metered taxis (called “argo”). The ride ended up being IDR75K plus IDR10K for airport parking.

The LRT is nearing completion and runs from the airport through to the city centre and across to the other side of the river (as I realised later).

The Anugerah Hotel was nice enough for the price. I was lucky enough to get a room at 1300 when I arrived. Having travelled all the way from Auckland to Palembang in one shot, I relaxed but was unable to sleep.

I stayed indoors until the weather cooled down and ventured around on foot only in the surrounding area to find most shops closed.

I took dinner at the hotel, trying the Pindang Ikan Patin, a specialty from Palembang. It was a freshwater fish cooked in hot and sour soup. Very yummy!

I retired around 2000 for a much needed 11h sleep.